Embracing ICT

By Asuzu Obinna bnnsz384@gmail.com

The digital economy is a succinct way to describe the new
economic order of things in our information society. Its name grew
out of societys new reality. Digital technology and social
networking have forever altered how we evaluate and value
goods and services.
In this new business world, traditional commerce has been
upended by technologys ability to create new routes to market,
resulting in a more engaging and satisfying customer experience
that we use every day.
Track back Nigeria about 15 years ago, the different parts
of the economic sectors; banking and finance, marketing etc.
Check what they look like now. The Banking services are better
faster and more reliable. There is also the ATM system. There is a
new market; the online markets where companies like Jumia and
Konga are dominating in Nigeria.
Digital technology uses these factors to transform our
traditional economy
1. It creates a value proposition where it never existed
2. It takes a traditional value proposition and transforms it to a
digital proposition.
An example is seen in the case of Jumia and Konga
trying to change the traditional way of shopping for
items by allowing customers to shop online from the
comfort of their home and still receive the items for
the same value as it would have been gotten from a
traditional market.

3. It takes advantage of already existing infrastructure and

company then tries attempts to build a business that would
enhance or compliment the physical proposition.
Example is company like Interswitch using both the
ATM and the internet to improve the already existing
banking system.
ICT lets small scale organizations perform task of large
organization effectively with minimal resources. ICT is equipping
small scale organizations like startups and communities with the
means of producing goods and services once held buy large scale
companies. ICT has helped drive down the cost of accessing
industrial scale data, information, and the cost of producing goods
and rendering services. To run a successful business today, you
need to have access to a wide range of resources, information,
data and even technologies that are hard to find.
In the business world, combing ICT from a smart
perspective will allow companies to maximize profitability while
minimizing cost and providing a better consumer services.
ICT in Education
ICT have recently gained a lot of interest. Its nature has highly
changed the face of education over the last few years.
In Nigeria, the use of ICT in education and training has
become a priority during the last few years. However, very few
have achieved progress. Indeed, very small percent of schools in
Nigeria and most African countries have achieved a decent level
of effective use of ICT to support and improve the teaching and
learning process and many are still in the early stages of
adaptation.
Many pupil have considered ICT tools very helpful in that it
helps them to do assignments, study, research and carry out
other projects. Students also assume responsibilities when they

use ICT to organize their work. In addition study shows that ICT
has significant impact on teachers and teaching process.
Information technology in education has gone as far as
the tertiary and the post tertiary education. On the digital front, a
revolution of learning is underway through information
technology. Think of digital open contents, cloud computing,
mobile technology and so on. These technologies have solved a
big problem in education and learning which is access. These
technologies have brought about what is called online education
also known as E-learning.
Online education is the collective term for learning
opportunities and methods which function on the internet. These
include; DIY (do it yourself) and the MOOC (massive open online
courses) platforms. These platforms have brought an end to a
one-size-fit-all factory model of education, has also brought
about enormous room for individualizing (and continuous
adapting) course learning and almost unlimited scope for lifelong
learning for anyone anywhere.
DIY (do it yourself)
DIY platform provide massive learning materials over the internet
of how to perform professional hand works. These materials
include books, videos, audios and online tutoring that cover all
fields from Engineering to Science and Arts.
In engineering, a person looking to learn how to fix automobile
can catch up with ifixit.com that offer guides, walkthrough videos
and so on.
In Science, a student can get guides on how to develop a biogas
system for instructables.com which is a community of engineers,
scientists, and artists.

In Arts, a person who wishes to open a bakery someday can

learn assorted types of baking skills and methods from
instructables.com.
MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses)
MOOC communities are more organized and professional as they
are being offered by educational institutions. MOOC ecosystem
today provides free online courses in nearly every higher
educational field study. Some MOOC providers include Cousera,
Udemy, Udacity, MIT, EDX, and Khan Academy.
Khan Academy online content for students to navigate at
their own pace and has approximate of 4,000 video lectures of
different courses.
EDX (edx.org) is a MOOC platform founded by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University
which offer online college (University) level courses free of charge
to the public. EDX offer very large and impersonal but free classes
mostly supported with light text books and materials.

This is just a tiny sample of the ideas out there. As

education increasingly move online, lack of digital literals
becomes a hindrance and must be addressed in other to achieve
more. Also, students and other individuals should take advantage
of these great possibilities because digital literacy is necessary to
build a knowledge economy. Training in basic computer skills
enables students to find and understand ICT as it empowers
individuals with the skills to fill the gap of several unfilled jobs
especially in the IT sector